Improvement in carriage-curtain fastenings



l. E. ELY.

Carriage-Curtain Fastenngs.

Patented .lune 9,1874.

[7mm for' PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH E. ELY, or GARRARD OOUNTY, KENTUCKY.

IMPROVEMENT IN CARRIAGE-CURTAIN hFASTENlNGs.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 151,865, dated June 9, 1874 application tiled November 18, 1873.

To all ywhom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH E. ELY, of Garrard county, in the State of Kentucky, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Knobs or Buttons for Fastening Carriage-Curtains, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure l represents a plan of my improved knobs or buttons as applied to a carriage-curtainthe lower end of the latter being torn oit, and Fig. 2 a longitudinal section of a portion of the same taken through the center of one of the buttons or knobs.A

The object of my invention is to provide carriages and other covered vehicles with a secure fastening for the curtains, which shall be at once cheap and durable, and yet be easy to fasten or unfasten the curtain; and its nature, for this purpose, consists in the use of a pivotal button or knob eccentrically mounted on its axis, so that one side shall project farther beyond the latter than its opposite side, and thereby, according to the direction in which the button is turned, allow the curtain, through a suitable hole made therein, to be slipped on and secured, or off', as may be desired.

To enable others skilled in the art to make, construct, and use my improvement, I will now proceed to describe it in detail.

The button or knob a is pivoted to the standards b, or upper skeleton frame of the carriage, by a pivotal screw, c, in such Inanner as to be free to be turned, but without loosening the screw, and, if desired, a washer may be interposed between its inner face and' standard or fra-lne b, so as to work easily and smoothly without marl-ing the latter.

In making the button, I prefer to make it on the principle of an isosceles triangle, andto round its angles, asshown in Fig. l; but it maybe made of any other suitable form, so long as it is eccei'itrically pivoted to the frame-that is to say, so long as one side, c, shall project farther than the opposite side e', and the latter but little, if any, beyond its shank d.

Thus made, it is provided with a shank, d, of a length sufficient either of itself or with a washer to furnish space to receive the thickness of the curtain between the inner face of the button and the carriage-frame, to which the latter is secured, as shown in Fig. 2 5 or, instead of a shank, a collar or washer of suitable thickness may be used, through which and the knob the pivotal screw may be passed in order to secure them to the frame.

This collar or the shank of the knob, on the side next the carriage, may be provided with a flange to give a greater bearing-surface on the frame, or, in caseof the latter, (the knob,) against an interposed washer.

The buttons thus made and secured to the frame of the carriage, the curtains are then provided with openings opposite the pivotal pins of the knobs, and of a size barely sutilcient to slip over the widest part of the latter, and one or two rows of stitching, m, then run around them to prevent tearing. Thus made the curtains and knobs 'are ready for use.

In the drawing, the upper part of the curtain is illustrated as being attached to a piece of wood, g, which is intended to represent the upper part of the frame of the carriage. In practice, it is secured to the top of the carriage in the ordinary Way, or in any suitable and known manner.

m represents a row of stitching, to prevent tearing out of the hole t', through which the knob projects. k represents the outer or leathern side of the curtain, and l the inner or lining.

In Fig. l the knob c is turned down, so as to fasten the curtain down, as in that position the curtain cannot be drawn over the point e of the knob so long as it is secured at the top to the frame of the carriage. When, however, it is desired to be detached and raised up, the knob a is turned up, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. By taking hold then of the lower end of the curtain and pulling it upward, it will be drawn over and oft' the knob, and thereby detached, and so with each in turn. The knobs are left in this position-that is to say, turned up, as in dotted lines, ready to allow the curtain to be again fastened down,y which is effected by slippingl the holes over the points e of the knobs, and then downward and over the other end e', around the shank. This done, the buttons are turned down, as shown in full lines, and the curtain thereby securely fastened.

The buttons are represented as being ar ranged at one side of the circle formed by the stitching around the holes; but they may be arranged at will in any part of it.

Having thus described my invention7 what I claim as' new, and desire to secure by letters Patent, is-

A button, a, having an ecceutrically-arranged opening and shank, d, for the reception of a pivotalscrew, c, by which to attach the button to the carriage-frame, all combined in the manner and for the purposes described. Y

JOSEPH E. ELY.

Witnesses:

B. N. JACOBS, J. W. DURHAM. 

